Gordon, Thanks for your response, and I have no desire to completely jump ship to Windows. I use Windows for work and Mac for pleasure (and some work). I am a mac boy, and will just keep nagging them until they eventually listen.
Tables is ok for basic stuff, but try using JAWS with Excel, it is actually very good and has some very intuitive features to enable you to get the job done much quicker. As Donal pointed out there are a number of things which can be done with Voiceover, but if you are in a hurry and need to perform tasks as quick as your sighted colleagues, then you have to use the tools which are fit for purpose. I have not looked at tables for a while and not sure if it has a jump to feature, supports VB script, Excel macros, and is able to read graphs and charts. Part of my job requires me to analyse and work with a lot of data and figures. It would be my dream to be able to ditch Windows all together. Gordon, have you taken a look at Sony's Sound Forge for the Mac yet? I believe there is a free trial available. I wonder if that might help you in anyway at all. Thanks Chris On 22 Jul 2013, at 19:58, Gordon Smith <gor...@mac-access.net> wrote: > Chris > > I agree with your comments regarding Office products and I did try to make > that clear in a previous post. There are issues with VoiceOver, Pages and > possibly OS X in general which I do find frustrating. Yes, I think it would > be good if Apple could do something about these issues. But as you rightly > say it isn't all their fault. > > I frequently need to use Word documents and am just beginning to have to use > spreadsheets. So, why can't you use Tables for your spreadsheets? Is there > some issue which Tables cannot handle either? > > Yes, I agree to an extent that the cry of "Accessibility out of the box" has > to end somewhere with Apple and VoiceOver. Yes, it would be great to see PDF > documents work as well under OS X as they do under Windows. As I'm sure you > know there is a war going on between Apple and Adobe. From memory this > started when Apple refused to permit Flash on the iOS platform. Actually I > have a copy of DreamWeaver CS5.5 for Windows, and have never got it to work > yet. But that's another issue. Maybe we should continue this off list. I > share most of John's views regarding accessibility but I do also agree with > your comments regarding the Office situation. That said, Apple could just as > easily turn around and say it isn't incumbent upon them to support something > which a competitor is doing just because it's widely used. Whether or not > you agree with that is really not important. But Apple could opt to made a > stand here and, over time, we may see a shift in the way offices work. But I > think that shift is some way off as yet. > > However, all we can really do is encourage Apple to improve. Like many on > list, I love my Macs and will never go back to Windows for most of my leisure > activities with one exception, broadcasting. To my knowledge, there is no > really professional product out there for Mac oS. Zulu DJ and DJay4 are more > designed with club DJ's in mind than radio presenters and it really shows. > There is one option in DJay4 which the authors suggest "Could" be used for > short jingles and trails, for example. But it still doesn't cut it. you > have to have an iTunes library to use either of those products, which means > that you have no option but to maintain your use of iTunes. > > The only really professional-looking product out there for the Mac is > "Mebgaset Pro". But sadly, that application is, with the exception of > keyboard shortcuts, totally inaccessible to VoiceOver and even it relies on > your iTunes library. So sadly there is nothing out there which comes close > to meeting those needs. > > Anyway, I take your points Chris but I urge you to stay with it, as I am > convinced that change is just around the corner. > > As for requiring more than the basicsm, as do I. But that said, unless you > pay an arm and a leg, I'm not so sure that's much more than basic editing out > there for Windows either. > > Kind regards > > <--- Gordon Smith ---> > > <gor...@mac-access.net> > > Telephone: > > United Kingdom: Free Phone: > 0800 8620538 > > Mobile: > +44 7907 823971 > > Europe and other non-specified: > +44 1642 688095 > > United States Of America And Canada: > +1 646 9151493 > Or: > +1 209 436 9443 > > Vic. Australia: > +61 38 8205930 > Vic. Australia > +61 39 0284505 > > Fax: > +44 1642 365123 > > Follow Us On Twitter: > <http://twitter.com/maciosaccess> > > Skype: > <skype:mac-access-dot-net?call> > > ------------------------------ > > On 22 Jul 2013, at 19:38, Chris Moore <moor...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: >> >> Apple's hardware is not for debate here, it is second to none and there is >> nothing on the pC side that even comes close to the Mac line in my opinion. >> Yes, Apple did us a huge favour in bringing build in accessibility. Does it >> have to end there though? >> >> The majority of falling PC sales are due to the increased interest in >> tablets and large screen phones. Macs still fortunately have their loyal >> customers, and you have to add that the Macbook Air is a wonderful laptop to >> own to run both Windows and OS X. We actually have those laptops to run >> Windows on. As an organisation we would not consider the mac for much else, >> as Microsoft office accessibility is just not there (and this is not solely >> down to Apple). >> >> Is it so wrong to expect more from Apple? we pay for the hardware and >> software and come on, it is 2013! Windows is fortunate to have various >> screen readers, the Mac only has one, so why can't it support high end >> products and enable more productivity? >> >> I guess I require more from my Mac, than just using Skype, Text Edit and >> basic audio editing. > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that > the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and > worm-free. 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